We left Miami on a sunny Sunday morning after 8 weeks of
being at anchor in Miami, never thought we would be living in South Beach for
over 2 months. Mark dragged up the
anchor trying to avoid slicing his fingers to pieces on the anchor chain which
was now covered in barnacles.
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| Our anchor chain covered in barnacles |
Good news was on a Sunday the bridges open on demand, we
made our last transit through the Venetian Causeway bridges, past the lovely
houses on the Venetian Causeway island with the waterfront views and some with some very unusual boats.
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| Space age boat |
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| Pretty bridges of Venetian Causeway |
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| Downtown looming |
Headed past the cruiseship terminals (almost empty on a
Sunday), past downtown Miami which at 8am on a Sunday morning is nice
and quiet, towards the harbour entrance, as we did a huge turtle popped up to
say “hello” funny to see when there is a huge city all around you.
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| Perez Gallery in downtown Miami |
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| Quite amazing that you can sail through Miami |
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| Miami Heats (Basketball team) stadium |
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| Harbourside in downtown |
We motored sailed all morning, it was good to be back out at
sea, we relaxed but also scrubbed poor Daisy dingy’s bottom, after 2 months of
sitting around in the harbour she needed some tlc.
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| Before |
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| After |
Around lunctime the wind picked up and we were actually able
to sail, it felt good after so long, the sea was almost flat, the winds were
15- 20 on the beam and we whistled along.
We set the autopilot took our cushions and sat on the deck and tried to
forget about the problems which were still hanging over us. At this point in time we had no idea if/where
we were going to store Magnum but we knew it was going to be North.
We made some good miles and pulled in at West Palm Beach
just as it was getting dark and tucked into the anchorage, not sure who we
shared our anchorage with overnight but all night there was tapping on the hull
– is this crabs or some sort of shell fish? We don’t know, it was interesting
but as all we wanted was a good nights sleep it was quite annoying J
We were up before the sun and creeping out of the channel
just as the sun came up and we were joined by the most playful dolphin we had
seen in a long time, there was a mum and baby common dolphin, the baby just
wanted to show off his amazing acrobatic skills, such a shame when these
amazing things happen you can never catch them on camera but it felt like he
just came along to make us smile – thanks little dolphin.
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| Sorry no acrobatic dolphin just a lovely house at West Palm Beach harbour entrance, up early to leave. |
The winds were lights so it was a day of motor sailing but
we were getting some benefit from the Gulf Stream
so we made some good miles with little effort.
As we headed towards Fort Pierce we could see the thunderstorms creeping
along the coast but fortunately they stayed inland until we started headed
north on the ICW, we then had some head winds but we made it to Vero Beach that
evening. Funny we had visited here in
November and every mooring ball had at least 1 boat moored to it, the summer is
a very different time, there are a handful of boats and of them only 50% are
occupied, others are just stored for the hurricane season.
We were greeted by a couple of dolphins and some fishing
pelicans but the most prominent animal in this area is the biting bugs! Amanda
was bitten to pieces over the next couple of days. We decided to stay in Vero for a few days in
am attempt to make decision on what next and see if we were able to actually
relax. Walks on the beach, peace and
quiet, some genuinely friendly and welcoming people plus a great night out at a
Comedy show helped get us in a better frame of mind.
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